Methinks they doth protest too much

The Department of Homeland Security -- with assistance from the FBI -- in a nine-page report, confirms what hate-group watchers have already said: that the activities of right wing extremists are on the rise since the election of Barack Obama, a Democrat, as president of these United States, and the severe economic downturn caused by Obama's predecessors.

That's no surprise to anyone with half a brain. It's what right-wing extremists -- also known as bigots, racists, homophobes and anti-government nutjobs -- do when a liberal black president takes office. Not that that's ever happened before.

The DHS definition of right wing extremism is quite specific.

Right Wing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.

But apparently, the conservative bloggers, pundits and radio blowhards either can't read very well -- for which there is already ample evidence -- or they actually do consider themselves to be hate-oriented and antigovernment, because they've certainly gone ballistic over this report.

"Confirmed: The Obama DHS hit job on conservatives is real," reads Michelle "Lock me up in a concentration camp please" Malkin's headline, even though the word "conservative" doesn't appear in the report and it was begun under the Bush administration.

"Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the Republican party," whines Charleston (W.Va.) Daily Mail columnist Don Surber, even though the word "Republican" is not mentioned in the report and the previous Republican administration requested it.

"The Constitution is a subversive manifesto per DHS," opines Cornell law professor William Jacobson, even though the report is clearly concerned with the potential for decidedly unonstitutional activities such as violent attacks.

"If the Bush administration had done this to left-wing extremists, it would be all over the press as an obvious trampling of the First Amendment rights of folks and dissent," said Republican radio host Roger Hedgecock, even though the Bush administration did initiate a similar report on left-wing extremism that was released by the Obama administration in January.

Some guy from Alabama who calls himself "The Other McCain" calls the report a "terrorist" smear against conservatives, with terrorist in quotes like that, even though the word "terrorist" appears exactly once in the report: at the end, in the paragraph that describes the purpose of the report and others in "a series of intelligence assessments."

"The report is the blueprint for Obama’s war on Conservatives and patriotic Americans," said Pam "I have no clue what I'm talking about" Geller, even though ... well, you get the picture.

Paranoid much? Or are these and others accidentally telling us the truth -- that they are, in fact, right wing extremists?

Because these same folks have no reservations about calling liberal and progressive organizations extremists -- or even calling Democrats traitors. And how many times have we heard that the president is a socialist?

But now they're all in a tither over the possibility that the Bad eVille government is watching them -- the same government that was all good and protecting the American citizens when it ordered warrantless wiretaps on said citizens during the Bush administration. But now that we have a Democratic president, they're clearly worried that they could be targets.

But weren't they the very ones saying that if we did nothing wrong, we have nothing to worry about from warrantless wiretaps?

Anyway, since these heretofore pretend mainstream conservatives are now acknowledging that they are, in fact, extremists, I say we hold 'em to it.

And since a bunch of 'em are claiming that the report is targeting today's teabaggery, even though the report makes no mention of the parties, I say we call today's events "extremist, right wing protests," just like they called protests against the Bush administration's many illegal activities "extremist left wing protests."

Turn about, is, after all, fair play, and we know the right is all about fair.

Although, I really can't recall any recent examples of left wing extremists bombing federal buildings or churches or shooting anti-abortion activists the way right wing extremists have bombed federal buildings, family planning clinics and gay bars and shot doctors who provide abortions.

But DHS is just picking on the poor right. It has no reason whatsoever to be concerned about potential violence.

News Writer
AWOP Political Contributing Editor
Author of Stop the Press!

Cross-posted at Stop the Press!

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Peace Y'all